Prior art three dimensional inspection systems have involved laser range finding technology, moire interferometry, structured light patterns or two cameras. The laser range finding method directs a focused laser beam onto the Ball Grid Array, BGA, and detects the reflected beam with a sensor. Elements of the BGA are determined in the X, Y and Z dimensions utilizing a triangulation method. This method requires a large number of measurement samples to determine the dimensions of the BGA resulting in longer inspection times. This method also suffers from specular reflections from the smooth surfaces of the solder balls resulting in erroneous data.
Moire interferometry utilizes the interference of light waves generated by a diffraction grating to produce a pattern of dark contours on the surface of the BGA. These contours are of known distance in the Z dimension from the diffraction grating. By counting the number of contours from one point on the BGA to another point on the BGA, the distance in the Z dimension between the two points can be determined. This method suffers from the problem of low contrast contour lines resulting in missed counting of the number of contours and resulting in erroneous data. This method also suffers from the contour lines merging at surfaces with steep slopes, such as the sides of the balls on the BGA, resulting in an incorrect count of the number of contours and resulting in erroneous data.
Structured light systems project precise bands of light onto the part to be inspected. The deviation of the light band from a straight line is proportional to the distance from a reference surface. The light bands are moved across the part, or alternately the part is moved with respect to the light bands, and successive images are acquired. The maximum deviation of the light band indicates the maximum height of a ball. This method suffers from specular reflections due to the highly focused nature of the light bands resulting in erroneous data. This method further suffers from increased inspection times due to the number of images required.
Two camera systems utilize one camera to view the BGA device in the normal direction to determine X and Y dimensions and the second camera to view the far edges of the balls from an angle. The two images are combined to determine the apparent height of each ball in the Z dimension utilizing a triangulation method. This method suffers from the need for a higher angle of view of the ball from the second camera resulting in looking at a point significantly below the top of the ball for BGA's having fine pitch. This method also suffers from limited depth of focus for the second camera limiting the size of BGA's that can be inspected. This system can only inspect BGA's and not other device types such as gullwing and J lead devices.
The prior art does not provide two separate and opposite side views permitting larger BGA's to be inspected or nonlinear optics to enhance the separation between adjacent ball images in the side perspective view.
It is therefore a motivation of the invention to improve the accuracy of the measurements, the speed of the measurements, the ability to measure all sizes and pitches of BGA's and to measure other devices including gullwing and J lead parts in a single system.